I'm Looking to get better "grease life" for the bearings in a road bike daily commuter that gets ridden in all weather good bad & down right ugly plus my Mountain bike that gets ridden off road in dusty conditions most weekends.

=>> What Grease do you use for Bicycle Cup & Cone Bearings eg for Shimano Hubs, old style head sets & cage bearing bottom brackets ...??

"Castrol Boating GreaseA general purpose grease ideal for greasing on both inboard and outboard engines, boat fittings as well as for wheel bearings fitted to boat trailers."BoatingCastrol recommend Boating Grease for boat trailer bearings. Owners must recognize that the entry of water into bearings causes rust and wear. We recommend cleaning and packing of bearings at least every 6 months.NO GREASE CAN COMPENSATE FOR INADEQUATE MAINTENANCE.

http://bicycles.stackexchange.com/quest ... -for-bikes"Point is that the "bike specific" greases generally aren't.As far as functional necessities:* Not too thin - A thin grease, like Slick Honey, will run very smooth, but only for a very short time. If you want ideal performance, and don't mind overhauling your bike every couple weeks, use this.* Not too sticky - Motorcycle/Automotive type bearing grease tends to be very sticky and very thick. They are designed to thin out at higher levels of heat and friction than a bicycle will reach. So it will last a long time, but will feel tight, and add friction to your bearings.

Generally, buy a tube of Phil Wood or Park tool grease, and feel free to use anything with a similar purity and consistency in the future."

*********************For my bike the original stuff from the OEM Bike factory was unknown...I've repacked all bearings a few times now over the last few years I have used CASTROL HTB but it does not appear to fair well with wet conditions. So this time I have swapped over to "CASTROL Boating Grease" and will see how that goes?=>> Thoughts/experiences welcome??

Shimano's original grease (the light green translucent stuff) looks pretty thick to me. I'd say the Castrol marine grease would be the way to go. I use it on most assembled parts and find it doesn't wash out fast.

Bel-Ray Waterproof Grease is the legendary high-performance, multi-purpose grease. Superior water resistance, even in salt water, will ensure continued sealing and protection. Perfect for wheel bearings, headsets, shock linkages, swing arm pivots and other motorcycle, ATV, snowmobile and marine chassis lubrication points. Due to its aluminum complex formula, it won't melt or run out. Enhanced mechanical stability and special anti-wear additives protect and lubricate bearings for improved performance.

Boating grease is good, I find that tainting/fouling is more of an issue than moisture ingress or it being washed out.

It is a little viscous compared to tailored solutions out there. Manufacturers and shops use thicker grease for a longer service life with minimal increased drag and much higher cost.

The shimano green stuff or lithium? greases are probably best for long life. Having said that, how the grease is applied and contained probably has a far bigger impact on the life rather than the grease type itself. In addition to how often it is cleaned out.

I use the blue boating grease on pretty much all my wheels, BB's, headsets, and seat post & stem insertions, including on the kids bikes. The HTB really only gets used for stem and crank bolts, and QR skewers. I do have some supertechnogrease I used for a few things like headsets and installation of BB cups on a couple of bikes (cant remember what its called). No difference to the boating in terms of how long its lasted.

Not sure where I'd use grease these days on my bike. Hub bearings are all sealed units with long life-spans, cartridge BB, headset is FSA with cartridge bearings, QR for the front dynohub is 'not to be greased'...............

Ahah! Pedals. Time pedals have servicable bearings (I think), never got around to pulling them down so far. Pedals are always the most neglected bearings on a bike.

Grease the seat post I guess, and grease the tapers on my square taper cranks.

I use Morey's EP-MP2 because my bearing shop said it was the nuts ducks for this sort of application. Given that it is more frequently used on neglected but critical farming components in my part of the world and it was/is well respected...I figured it'd work just fine in a well maintained bicycle. So far this has proved to be the case.

Was buying grease in Bunnings years ago and the helpful shop guy was a bike shop employee part time as well. He put me onto the marine grease with the white lithium stuff in it. Big tub cost about $12. Use a syringe as a grease gun. Good for what ails you.

bigfriendlyvegan wrote:Was buying grease in Bunnings years ago and the helpful shop guy was a bike shop employee part time as well. He put me onto the marine grease with the white lithium stuff in it. Big tub cost about $12. Use a syringe as a grease gun. Good for what ails you.

+1 for castrol marine grease. I went to the LBS and asked for some good bike grease, he said just go to the auto parts joint and get the castrol stuff.

+1 also for the syringe I'm using a 50mm cost about$1 at the pharmacy. It's a pain in the proverbvial to fill it up, but you dont reall use much on a bike and takes ages to empty.

bychosis (bahy-koh-sis): A mental disorder of delusions indicating impaired contact with a reality of no bicycles.

silentbutdeadly wrote:I use Morey's EP-MP2 because my bearing shop said it was the nuts ducks for this sort of application. Given that it is more frequently used on neglected but critical farming components in my part of the world and it was/is well respected...I figured it'd work just fine in a well maintained bicycle. So far this has proved to be the case.

This stuff is not cheap, considering we were going through about a canister a day.

Average bearing life went from 500 hrs to 800 hrs. Grape harvesters are subjected to massive amounts of heat, vibration, acid, water and dirt. Everything that a bearing loves!

The biggest difference I noticed was when a bearing failed. With the Castrol (which is a very good grease) the first thing you heard was the bearing squealing and then the knock when if failed. With the Morey's the first thing you heard was the knock.

IMO it is the best 'lack of grease' grease on the market. By that I mean if the bearing is under greased it will survive much longer with the Morey's red than any other grease I have used. Inc Castrol Marine/Hi temp etc and ProMa amongst the better contenders. Almost all of the harvest contractors in McLaren Vale were using this stuff on their harvesters.

Now weather this means it is the best grease for low impact (by comparison) bike bearings I am not so sure.

All my bikes are pretty much sealed bearings. It did stop my BB30 bottom bracket from squealing under load, but any of the others may have done just as good a job.

The only wheel set I greased up with this stuff was a crappy set of Alex A450's on my Trek 1000 and they went from horrible to just plain crap.

bychosis wrote:---snip---+1 for castrol marine grease. I went to the LBS and asked for some good bike grease, he said just go to the auto parts joint and get the castrol stuff.

+1 also for the syringe I'm using a 50mm cost about$1 at the pharmacy. It's a pain in the proverbvial to fill it up, but you dont reall use much on a bike and takes ages to empty.

+1 Another Castrol marine blue user here+1 another syringe as applicator too. I find it easy enough to fill though, just put the tub in the sun to soften up a bit for a while and suck it up like it were a liquid.

ApplicationsEnergrease LC 2 is for use for short periods at temperatures up to 180º Celsius. It's capable of withstanding the high temperatures associated with disc brakes and automotive wheel bearing applications.Energrease LC 2 is recommended for the lubrication of truck, trailer and bus wheel bearings, as well as grease-filled hubs.

Alternate May Be:LC2 - M " used for wheel bearings, chassis and marine situations where water washout is a problem."

Energrease LC 2-M contains molybdenum disulphide and has an extremely high drop point (the temperature at which the grease structure melts or breaks down) of over 220º Celsius.

ApplicationsEnergrease LC 2-M is used for wheel bearings, chassis and marine situations where water washout is a problem.It's also used for plain or roller bearings operating at temperatures up to a continuous rating of 150º Celsius.

**************************My thoughts are that the kg pressure withstand matter for bicycle cup & cone bearings because the bearing diameter is small and the cone radius varies between say Shimano genuine Deore and JoyTec or cheap & nasty Sovos replacements. Thought is that the Timken OK Load or the ASTM 4 Ball test offer a comparison of sorts only

=>> Does anyone have a Tech Data Sheet for Castrol Boating Grease that lists the Timken OK Load or the ASTM 4 Ball test?=>> Do we have any Mechanical Engineers/Lubrication Specialists on the forum? Thoughts?

For about 20 years I used a tub of unbrandes white lithium grease that my dad's LBS gave me for $2....

It's run out now, but I have used with success - several automotive high temp bearing greases, castrol molybdenum disulphide grease, vasoline, fishing reel grease, marine bearing grease, the dregs out of the bottom of several kinds of aircraft greases. Now I'm on to a partial tub of Teflon based aircraft grease that's past it's use by date and can't be used on aircraft...

They have all done acceptable jobs - on the bike it seems that it doesn't really matter what grease you use, as long as you clean and regrease before it gets enough road/trail grime in it to grind up the bearings

Hmmm suppose it depends on how many kms your do doing, its for the commuter refurb. It gets ridden rail hail or shine nominal doing 8,000-10,000 per yr.

re "White Lithium Grease"..seems to go hard with age then the cones get destroyed, had seen it in the Gemini WR and the Peugeot Mixtie when they had a full rebuild, alright for headsets but not for wheel bearings or bottom bracket...replaced with Castrol Boating Grease.re "vasoline" is not fit for purpose...easy way to destroy your bearing cups & cones.

I think Boat Trailer Wheel Bearing Grease is good and probably Farming Equipment Grease "Morey's Super Red Premium Waterproof Grease" per bosvit's recommendation but don't have any to try

Anyone else using anything other than stated above, that is reasonably priced and avoids washout & separation/dryout issues?

I'm another for Castrol HTB. I do similar sorts of kms in all weather and it's done its job without issue. I'm guessing that with its intended use comes a fair bit of resilience, given cars also do their job rain, (light) hail and shine.

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